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Posted By: Lean | Feb 19th @ 11:08 AM
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DreamSpark-2_bL

 

Hello Student, and welcome to this totally awesome guide to using DreamSpark! I have written this guide so that it is easy to follow for any student with any technical ability level.

I will show you how easy it is to download a product from the service and get it all up and running quickly. In this example, I will be assuming you have signed up for the service and are ready to download a product. This example will show you how to download and install Expression Studio

1. Select a Product for Download

For this example, we will be downloading Expression Studio. Selecting this option will bring you to the download page

 

products

2. Download the Product

 

download

 

Select that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions and select the download method you would like to use

Both methods will get you to the same place, but the Download manger will allow you to resume the download should you want to download the file over separate sessions or if the file should fail for some reason.

The Web Browser option will allow you to download the file in the same manner you would usually download file from the internet, but it does not support the features the download manger uses.

 

webbrowser

 

Now sit back and relax while the file is downloaded Smiley

3. Create a Product CD using ISO Recorder

You will notice that the downloaded file is of the ISO file format, but what is an ISO and what do you do with it?

The best way to think of an ISO is as a “Container File” that contains all of the files that you would expect to find on the product CD

 

isoimage

 

An ISO file is a CD Image. Try to imagine that somebody has taken of the files off the product CD and put them inside in this single ISO file. But what do you do with this now?

 

crossed

 

You cannot burn this file directly to a CD, this will not work. You need to expand the ISO file on to a CD instead. Unfortunately, this is not supported directly in Vista or XP directly, and a free piece of software is needed.

There are many applications out there to burn ISO files, but I find ISO Recorder the easiest to use. This can be downloaded from http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm and the site also has a quick step by step on finding out your windows version if you don’t already know

Once this is installed, burning an ISO file is a breeze, simply right click the downloaded file, and select the “Copy Image to CD option”

 

copy

 

You will then be presented with the following screen:-

Put a blank disc into your recorder, select a burning speed and click the next button

 

isorecorder

 

Now just sit back and relax while the iso is recorded to your blank disc.

 

4. Checking the Disc and installing the Product

When complete, if you view the contents of the CD from My Computer

 

install

 

You will see that the ISO has been unpacked and you now have a disc that functions in exactly the same way as one obtained at retail.

Right clicking the CD drive and selecting “Run Autoplay” will launch the setup for the given product, here is an example of the Expression Studio welcome screen

 

expression

Finally, you can now delete the ISO file from your computer and keep the newly created product CD in case you need to reinstall the product at a later date

And the most important part of the process, enjoy it!

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It should also be mentioned that you can use Daemon Tools and such to directly mount the ISO without needing it to burn.

I was going to include a section on using Daemon Tools, but it was decided to keep it as basic as possible Smiley
Some copy protection stuff (especially that on game cds/dvds) will through a wobbly if it detects daemon tools on your system.
MICROSOFT OFRECE A LOS UNIVERSITARIOS ACCESO GRATUITO A LAS ÚLTIMAS HERRAMIENTAS PROFESIONALES DE LA
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What would be nice is a "user guide" on how to get back to the (HUGE) documentation so you may download that once you have left the only page I can find with a link to the documentation.

I didn't have 6 plus hours to download it via cable modem when I first downloaded the software (VS 2008, which took over two hours by itself, and that isn't counting the numerous failed attempts), and now I cannot find my way back to it!
Here's a couple links:

https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/Default.aspx

and for a list of all the products available:

https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/Products.aspx

(bah...can't figure out the hyperlink right now....It's neither VBulletin nor HTML?!)